Hold-down/extraction apparatus

ABSTRACT

A device for assisting insertion of a container into a space and for holding same in said space after insertion with the forces being applied in a first direction having a force component in a hold-down direction while providing extraction forces to said container in a direction substantially perpendicular to said hold-down direction.

i 8e States aieiiii 11 1 1111 3,756,087 Riethmeier 1 Sept. 4, 1973 [54]HOLD-DOWN/EXTRACTION APPARATUS 1,198,144 9 1916 O'Rourke 74/89153,575,378 4 1971 Fawkes 74 8915 [75] Inventor: William C. Rlethmeler,Yorba Linda, 3,640.14 2H9 Hollingsead et aL 7448915 Cahf- 2,338,2711/1944 Ulanet 74 8915 2,920,871 1 1960 Kolodin 74/89.l5 [73] Asslgnee'cflhns Rad) Company Dallas 3,269,199 8 1966 Deehan et al 74/89.l5 [22]1972 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS MN 243,173 1,103,677 2/1968 France74/89.l5

52 us. c1 74/89.15, 81 /71, 287/92 Primary Examiner-Charles J Myhre 511111. c1 .1 lFl6h 27/02 Assistant Examinerwesley Ratliff, [58] Field ofSearch 74/89.l5; 81/71; AlwrneyBwCe Lutz et [57] ABSTRACT [56]References C'ted A device for assisting insertion of a container into aUNITED STATES PATENTS space and for holding same in said space afterinsertion 1,493,079 5 1924 Kleiderlein et a1, 81 71 wi h th f rc b ingapplie in a first direction having 1,898,202 2/1933 Murray 151/2 R aforce component in a hold-down direction while pro- 2,564,196 8/l95l z-m 31/71 viding extraction forces to said container in a direction2,701,152 2/1955 Cutler 287/92 substantially perpendicular to saidhold-down direc- 2,832,943 4 1958 Cutler 287/92 mm 3,096,574 7/1963Hillberg... 81 71 3,105,403 10/1963 Kaiser 8l/7l 7 Claims, 5 DrawingFigures Patentd Sept. 4, 1973 3,756,087

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Patented Sept. 4,1973 3,756,087

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FORCE W INSERT LINKAGE CONTAINER HORIZONTAL 1 80/72EXTRACTION- FORCE f EXTRACT- SHgEiF \32 a A 7 l2 LINKAGE FIG. 5

1 HOLD-DOWN/EXTRACTION APPARATUS THE INVENTION The present apparatuspertains generally to fastening means and more specifically to anapparatus for assisting insertion and extraction of a container into andout of an opening.

The prior art, such as found in US. Pat. No. 3,640,l41, has generallybeen designed such that there are projections extending therefrom whichcould be lethal if a person were accidentally thrown against thestructure containing such devices. Further, since the devices beinginserted and extracted generally contain a plurality of electricalconnections at the rear thereof, it is important that the container orother device be extracted in a direction parallel with the electricalconnection pins. The prior art such as shown in the abovereferencedpatent tended to provide an upward force upon extraction and on manyoccasions would cause breakage of the electrical connecting pins.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide improvedinsertion and extraction means.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparentfrom a reading of the specification and appended claims in conjunctionwith the drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross section of an assembled embodiment of the invention inthe extraction process;

FIG. 3 illustrates an insertion bracket portion of FIG. 2 in moredetail;

FIG. 4 is an illustrative showing of the applied forces in the insertionprocess; and

FIG. 5 is a schematic or illustrative showing of the applied forces inthe extraction mode.

Referring first to FIG. 1, it will be realized that there are twoU-shaped devices generally indicated as and 12. U-shaped member 10 maybe termed a mounting link for the purposes of this discussion. Themounting link 10 contains first and second arms 14 and 16 and further abit portion 18. The mounting link 10 contains mounting holes generallydesignated as 20 on one face thereof. Further, each of the arms l4 16have a pivotal mounting hole 22. The U-shaped member 12 may further bedescribed as a link arm and has first and second legs 24 and 26 and abit portion 28. Arm 24 has a hole 28 which receives a pivotal mountingdevice 30 and which connects with the hole 22 in leg 14 of mounting link10. The pivotal means 30 may be rivet or any other appropriate typedevice which does not extend excessively into the inner portion of leg14. A further opening 32 is illustrated in leg 26 and similar to that ofopening 28. Opening 32 is designed to receive a pivotal means 34 whichcoacts with opening 22 of leg 16. Thus, mounting link 10 is pivotallymounted between the legs 24 and 26 of link arm 12. A pivot nut generallydesignated as 36 is illustrated having a first opening 38 extendingthrough an upper portion thereof. Opening 38 is designed to receive ashaft or pivotal mounting means 40 which also extends through openings42 and 44 in the legs 24 and 26 of link arm 12. Pivotal device 40 canagain be a rivet or any other suitable attachment device. The pivot nut36 also contains a threaded opening 46 for reception of a screw means tobe later described. The pivot nut 36 also contains first and secondextensions 48 and 50. Each of these extensions 48 and 50v have a tipdesignated as 52 and 54 respectively. The tips 52 and 54 coact withextensions 56 and 58 of a T-- shaped portion generally designated as 60of an extraction block generally designated as 62. Between pivot nut 36and extraction block 62 is shown an E clamp 64. E clamp 64 fits into aslot designated as 66 in a shaft 68 of a knob generally designated as70. Knob 70 has a head 72 and one end 74 of shaft 68 is threaded tocoact with the threads in the opening 46 of pivot nut 36. Extractionblock 62 also contains an opening 76 which is not threaded but allowspassage of shaft 68 therethrough. The extraction block 62 also containsan upwardly extending portion 78. Portion 78 coacts with the devicebeing removed for applying outwardly exerted forces. A retainergenerally designated as 80 is illustrated having an opening 82 to allowpassage of shaft 68 therethrough. One face of retainer 80 is indentedand contains an opening 84 between the edge thereof and opening 82. Thisopening 84 is to allow positioning of the insertion apparatus over a lipon the device being inserted. The retainer 80 also contains a pin orother blocking means 86 for preventing accidental removal of theretainer from the lip of the container being extracted. A washer orbearing assembly 88 is illustrated also having an opening 90 for passagetherethrough of the shaft 68. From the above description it will now beapparent that the shaft 68 including the threaded portion 74 passesthrough the washer assembly 88, the retainer 80 and the extraction block62. The E clip 64 then clips to the indentation 66 on shaft 68 toprevent excessive movement of these parts and to apply extraction forceto extracting block 62. The threaded portion 74 is then threadablyengaged with opening 46 of pivot nut 36 which is pivotably mounted tothe openings 42 and 44 of link arm 12. Link arm 12, in turn, ispivotably mounted to the mounting link 10. As will be later illustrated,link arm 12 assumes first and second positions depending upon whetherextraction or insertion forces are applied.

Referring now to FIG. 2 it will now be observed that theextraction-insertion apparatus is now in an assembled condition.However, FIG. 2 is a section view with everything other than the screwor shaft portion of knob 70 and the container. The sectioning occursalong the axis of shaft 68. As will be observed, the shaft 68 has aknurled head which is force fitted into the portion 72 of the knob inthe embodiment shown. Further, the mounting link 10 is attached to ashelf means or other mounting base 94. The link 10 is mounted via screwsindicated as 96. A container means, module or other device generallyindicated as 98 is the device being inserted into the area above shelf94. The device 98 has a lower lip 100 against which the extraction block62 exerts extraction forces. On the surface of the container 98 is abracket 102 having a lip 104. The insertion means 80 coacts with lip 104to provide the insertion forces. The stop 86 prevents accidentalrotation of the retainer'80 upon extraction of the container 98 wherebythe extracting device would fall away from container 98 before removalis complete.

As is obvious, the apparatus of FIG. 2 is shown in the container removalposition and as will be illustrated in FIG. 4, the link arm 12 willchange positions upon using the device for inserting container 98.

Referring now to FIG. 3, the device or lip bracket 102 is shown infrontal view so that the coaction of retainer 80 therewith can be moreeasily ascertained.

Referring now to FIG. 4, it will be observed that the container 98 isslideably coacting with and adjacent shelf 94. The retainer 80 iscoacting with lip m4 in a direction which has both horizontal andvertical components. The vertical component is, of course, perpendicularto the direction of movement of container 98. The link arm 12 isillustrated in dash lines to illustrate its position in the insertionprocess. The extraction block is, of course, not illustrated in thisfigure. The downward or perpendicular force provides a positiveretention of container98 under vibration extremes.

FIG. illustrates the extraction process with the forces shown andillustrates substantially the mode of operation shown in FIG. 2. It willbe noted, however, that the extraction block 62 is shown as acylindrical device as opposed to the illustration in FIG. 2. This isanother possible embodiment and is shown in this configuration toillustrate that there are many possible designs available for practicingthe present inventive concept. The inventive concept comprises the useof apparatus which allows insertion forces to be applied to a containeror block along an axis in a first direction and to provide removalforces along an axis situated at an angle from said first axis. Thesecond axis will generally be parallel with the base of the containerbeing removed. Further, the forces applied along the first axis willprovide a component of force perpendicular to the second axis and tendto hold the device being inserted from movement or vibration withrespect to the base means into which the device is being inserted.

Although basically only one embodiment of the invention has beendescribed, it will be realized that other embodiments may be createdusing the inventive concept outlined above and I therefore wish to belimited not by the specification but only by the appended claims whereinI claim:

I claim:

1. insertion and extraction apparatus comprising, in combination:

pivotal mounting means having first and second positions and furtherincluding pivotal receiving means movable in accordance with the firstand second positions; and

force supplying means, mechanically and pivotally connected to saidreceiving means of said pivotal mounting means along a longitudinal axisof said force supplying means, application of force in one directionalong said longitudinal axis causing movement of said pivotal mountingmeans to said first position and application of force in the directionopposite said first direction of force causing sudden movement of saidpivotal mounting means from said first to said second position wherebythe pivotal receiving means of said pivotal mounting means is moved tochange the position and angle of said longitudinal axis of said forcesupplying means with respect to a given reference.

2. Apparatus for facilitating insertion and removal of a module from abase comprising, in combination:

base means;

pivotal mounting means having first and second positions and furtherincluding pivotal receiving means; force applying means having one endadaptable for connection to a module and having the other endmechanically connected to said receiving means of said pivotal mountingmeans, said force supplying means having a longitudinal axis passingthrough the first and second ends of said force supplying means, theapplication of force to said receiving means of said pivotal mountingmeans through said force applying means in a first direction along saidlongitudinal axis causing said pivotal mounting means to be quicklymoved to said first position and the application of force to saidreceiving means of said pivotal mounting means via said force applyingmeans along said longitudinal axis in a direction opposite from saidfirst direction causing said pivotal mounting means to quickly move tosaid second position, any module connected to the first end of saidforce applying means being inserted into said base means uponapplication of force in the first direction and being removed from thebase means when force is applied in the second direction and the forceapplying means being caused to pivot around the module upon movement ofsaid pivotal mounting means between said first and second positions suchthat the movement of the longitudinal axis of said force supplying meansdescribes an arc; and

means for pivotally attaching said mounting means to said base meanswhereby the first and second positions are with respect to said basemeans.

3. Insertion and extraction apparatus for use with a module and a basecomprising, in combination:

base means;

module means including at least one force coacting means portionthereon, said module means requiring insertion into and extraction fromsaid base means;

pivotal mounting means having first and second positions and includingpivotal force receiving means movable in accordance with the first andsecond positions;

force applying means mechanically connected to and coacting at a firstend with said force receiving means of said pivotal mounting means andmechanically coacting at a second end with and connected to a forcecoacting means of said module means, said force supplying means having alongitudinal axis between said first and second ends thereof,application of force in a first direction to said force receiving meansvia said force applying means causing said pivotal mounting means toassume a first position and facilitating mechanical insertion of saidmodule into said base means, a force component being applied in adirection perpendicular to the base of said module means, application offorce to said force receiving means via said force supplying means in asecond direction coacting with said module to cause said pivotalmounting means to quickly assume said second position thereby movingsaid pivotal force receiving means with respect to said base means,whereby extraction forces are applied to said module in a directionwhich is substantially parallel with the base of said module means; and

means pivotally attaching said mounting means to said base means wherebythe first and second positions are with respect to said base means.

4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 3 wherein said module means includesfirst and second lips and said force supplying means includes lipcoacting means such that the force supplying means will be preventedfrom slipping from the lips of said module means upon application offorce in either direction.

5. The method of inserting a module into and removing it from an openingby applying forces to one end thereof with respect to the opening andwherein it is desirable that the module be inserted and removed in adirection substantially parallel with a base of the opening comprisingthe steps of:

applying insertion forces to the one end of said module whereby asubstantial component of the insertion forces is in a directionperpendicular to the direction of movement of said module into saidopening for reducing movement in either the direction of saidsubstantial component of force or the direction of movement of themodule into the opening as the insertion operation is completed; and

extracting said module at said one end of said module by applying aforce having substantially no components in the direction perpendicularto the direction of movement of said module upon insertion into theopening.

6. The method of inserting and extracting a container into an openinghaving electrical connections at the rear thereof wherein the openinghas a horizontal base and wherein the container has electricalconnections at the rear thereof and force coacting means at the frontthereof and further wherein vertical forces applied to said containerupon extraction tends to produce breakage of the electrical connectionsat the rear thereof comprising the steps of:

placing said container in said opening;

applying insertion forces having a substantial component in the verticaldirection; and

applying extraction forces having a substantially zero component in thevertical direction.

7. Insertion and extraction for use in securing a device to andextracting the device from a base comprising, in combination:

mounting means for attachment to a base;

pivotal means;

means for movably attaching said pivotal means to said mounting meanswhereby said pivotal means is movable between first and second positionswhen said mounting means is attached to a base;

force applying means for providing insertion and extraction forces, saidforce applying means having a longitudinal axis;

means for attaching said force applying means to a device at a point agiven distance from said longitudinal axis;

means for movably attaching said force applying means to said pivotalmeans at a point substantially said given distance from saidlongitudinal axis for enhancing movement of said pivotal means betweensaid first and second positions upon changing from insertion toextraction forces and thereby changing the angle of said longitudinalaxis with respect to said mounting means.

1. Insertion and extraction apparatus comprising, in combination:pivotal mounting means having first and second positions and furtherincluding pivotal receiving means movable in accordance with the firstand second positions; and force supplying means, mechanically andpivotally connected to said receiving means of said pivotal mountingmeans along a longitudinal axis of said force supplying means,application of force in one direction along said longitudinal axiscausing movement of said pivotal mounting means to said first positionand application of force in the direction opposite said first directionof force causing sudden movement of said pivotal mounting means fromsaid first to said second position whereby the pivotal receiving meansof said pivotal mounting means is moved to change the position and angleof said longitudinal axis of said force supplying means with respect toa given reference.
 2. Apparatus for facilitating insertion and removalof a module from a base comprising, in combination: base means; pivotalmounting means having first and second positions and further includingpivotal receiving means; force applying means having one end adaptablefor connection to a module and having the other end mechanicallyconnected to said receiving means of said pivotal mounting means, saidforce supplying means having a longitudinal axis passing through thefirst and second ends of said force supplying means, the application offorce to said receiving means of said pivotal mounting means throughsaid force applying means in a first direction along said longitudinalaxis causing said pivotal mounting means to be quickly moved to saidfirst position and the application of force to said receiving means ofsaid pivotal mounting means via said force applying means along saidlongitudinal axis in a direction opposite from Said first directioncausing said pivotal mounting means to quickly move to said secondposition, any module connected to the first end of said force applyingmeans being inserted into said base means upon application of force inthe first direction and being removed from the base means when force isapplied in the second direction and the force applying means beingcaused to pivot around the module upon movement of said pivotal mountingmeans between said first and second positions such that the movement ofthe longitudinal axis of said force supplying means describes an arc;and means for pivotally attaching said mounting means to said base meanswhereby the first and second positions are with respect to said basemeans.
 3. Insertion and extraction apparatus for use with a module and abase comprising, in combination: base means; module means including atleast one force coacting means portion thereon, said module meansrequiring insertion into and extraction from said base means; pivotalmounting means having first and second positions and including pivotalforce receiving means movable in accordance with the first and secondpositions; force applying means mechanically connected to and coactingat a first end with said force receiving means of said pivotal mountingmeans and mechanically coacting at a second end with and connected to aforce coacting means of said module means, said force supplying meanshaving a longitudinal axis between said first and second ends thereof,application of force in a first direction to said force receiving meansvia said force applying means causing said pivotal mounting means toassume a first position and facilitating mechanical insertion of saidmodule into said base means, a force component being applied in adirection perpendicular to the base of said module means, application offorce to said force receiving means via said force supplying means in asecond direction coacting with said module to cause said pivotalmounting means to quickly assume said second position thereby movingsaid pivotal force receiving means with respect to said base means,whereby extraction forces are applied to said module in a directionwhich is substantially parallel with the base of said module means; andmeans pivotally attaching said mounting means to said base means wherebythe first and second positions are with respect to said base means. 4.Apparatus as claimed in claim 3 wherein said module means includes firstand second lips and said force supplying means includes lip coactingmeans such that the force supplying means will be prevented fromslipping from the lips of said module means upon application of force ineither direction.
 5. The method of inserting a module into and removingit from an opening by applying forces to one end thereof with respect tothe opening and wherein it is desirable that the module be inserted andremoved in a direction substantially parallel with a base of the openingcomprising the steps of: applying insertion forces to the one end ofsaid module whereby a substantial component of the insertion forces isin a direction perpendicular to the direction of movement of said moduleinto said opening for reducing movement in either the direction of saidsubstantial component of force or the direction of movement of themodule into the opening as the insertion operation is completed; andextracting said module at said one end of said module by applying aforce having substantially no components in the direction perpendicularto the direction of movement of said module upon insertion into theopening.
 6. The method of inserting and extracting a container into anopening having electrical connections at the rear thereof wherein theopening has a horizontal base and wherein the container has electricalconnections at the rear thereof and force coacting means at the frontthereof and further wherein vertical forces applied to said containerupon extraction tends to produce breAkage of the electrical connectionsat the rear thereof comprising the steps of: placing said container insaid opening; applying insertion forces having a substantial componentin the vertical direction; and applying extraction forces having asubstantially zero component in the vertical direction.
 7. Insertion andextraction for use in securing a device to and extracting the devicefrom a base comprising, in combination: mounting means for attachment toa base; pivotal means; means for movably attaching said pivotal means tosaid mounting means whereby said pivotal means is movable between firstand second positions when said mounting means is attached to a base;force applying means for providing insertion and extraction forces, saidforce applying means having a longitudinal axis; means for attachingsaid force applying means to a device at a point a given distance fromsaid longitudinal axis; means for movably attaching said force applyingmeans to said pivotal means at a point substantially said given distancefrom said longitudinal axis for enhancing movement of said pivotal meansbetween said first and second positions upon changing from insertion toextraction forces and thereby changing the angle of said longitudinalaxis with respect to said mounting means.